THE concerns voiced by North Wales head Michael James have been echoed by a medical academic who urged the Government to set up guidelines for schools to follow.

The Rydal Penrhos head said the Government had been slow on the uptake on issuing advice on the killer Sars bug.

He added: "There is a lot of information on the disease out there and people need to be reassured they are safe.

"France stopped flights coming in from these infected areas last month. If we get a serious outbreak of Sars in this country then people will start to point the finger."

His accusations came as Ian Wong, director of the Centre for Paediatric Pharmacy at the University of London, urged the Government to stop the potential disruption which could be caused to pupils' education.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal, he said the lack of a common policy for schools was spreading fear of the deadly virus.

He said schools were following different policies, with some allowing children back in, some imposing quarantines, and some telling children from overseas they would have to stay away until Sars had been contained.

Mr Wong wrote in the letter: "The situation looks confusing. I urge the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of Health to work together in this matter urgently and develop a common policy for schools.

"This will assist schools in making rational decisions and more importantly address the fears of parents and children." The Government was yesterday urged to classify Sars alongside cholera and smallpox so that people arriving in the UK with symptoms could be detained for treatment.

Shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox described Britain's response so far to the outbreak had been "feeble, complacent and irresponsible."

The Tories said the Government should make Sars a "notifiable disease" under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984.

But the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said all six cases in Britain so far had been detected quickly and brought under control.

"We are in very, very close daily contact with the World Health Organisation and the other countries involved and, far from being feeble or complacent, we are working very, very hard," he said.

There have been 4,288 probable cases of Sars worldwide and 251 deaths.

The death rate for Sars is between 5pc and 6pc, compared with a mortal-ity rate of 30pc for smallpox.

Following the WHO advice, the UK Government yesterday warned Britons not to travel to Toronto, as well as Hong Kong and parts of China.

The Canadian High Commission in London said there was little risk of contracting Sars in normal day-to-day activities and insisted "travel to Toronto is safe."

It also emerged a Thai woman was in a Bangkok hospital with suspected Sars, and officials believe she may have contracted the deadly virus in London.